Wednesday, March 20, 2019

Homeschool Days

Well, it has been one year since my last post.
So I guess it's time to say something.
I wanted to write a little about how we do school these days- mostly for my own sake, since I assume I will not remember in 6 months, let alone when Louise is 8 and I'm wondering what on earth we used to do for second graders.

We are eclectic homeschoolers- which means that I don't adhere to any specific philosophy of education. I love much of Charlotte Mason (like short lessons, nature study, narrations and copywork), but find a lot of it to be tedious or out of date. For example, I like letting my kids read fact-books and  picture-books, although Ms. Mason disapproved of both.
Classical Education doesn't generally sit well with me, although our favorite curriculum (Story of the World) is by Susan Wise Bauer- the classical education Queen.
So anyway.
Here's what we do.

Every morning we start with breakfast. Travis makes breakfast while I read from the Book of Mormon aloud. During breakfast we also do our current scripture memory verse, because I use a notecard with the verse on it as my bookmark in the Scriptures. We don't read a lot, maybe 10 verses most days. Then we talk about it or the schedule for the day.

After breakfast we move into Morning Tasks and Daily Devotional.
The kids are in charge of completing their own Morning Tasks. For Grey and Micah (age 8) that includes:
Getting Dressed
Brushing Hair and Teeth
Reading Scriptures (illustrated story, not the actual Word)
Practicing Piano

August (age 5) is supposed to get dressed (he almost never does), brush his hair and teeth (he's middling at this), and help unload the dishwasher (he can do this, but usually it's so slow that Travis takes over.)
I generally allow for about an hour for this to get done, during which time I look at our schedule and decide what needs to be done that day, clean up breakfast and read to August and Louise.

Then we start Daily Devotional and Second Breakfast. The kids usually all eat a bowl of cereal while we do DD.
We start with our Hymn for the month, and a morning prayer (unless we already said it when Travis left for work).

Daily Devotional includes the following:
Monthly Hymn. Hymns don't usually last an actual month. We just start and stop when we are done with them. We sing the first verse every day for a week, and the first and second every day for the second week and so on. If the hymn has 4 verses, it does actually take us a month.  I have a playlist of all the hymns we've learned and I play it on the kitchen speakers when it's time for everyone to gather for DD.

New poem from our current poet of study.  Usually a poet lasts about 6 weeks. We don't analyze the poem.  I just read it aloud while everyone closes their eyes, and then everyone has a turn telling how the poem made them feel or what they imagined happening. Our only goal is to be exposed to good poetry and delight in it.

Recite our current memory-poem. We either listen to a recording of the poem, recite it together, or I recite it line by line (and they repeat), depending on how well we know it. When everyone knows it without help, the poem moves into our Poetry Review folder and we start a new poem.

Review 2-3 memory poems and 2-3 memory scriptures. Grey and Micah take turns leading the poetry and leading the scriptures. The scriptures are on 5x8 notecards and the poetry is in a folder, and whoever is leading just reads the next few poems/scriptures aloud and the rest of us try to recite it along with him. This helps us retain what we've learned.

Read a Fable. I have a book of short animal fables. They're usually only a page long. I will read one, and then August tries to tell it back to me. One of the older boys will get to fill in any gaps that August missed, and then the other boy will tell me what he thinks the moral of the story is. I try not to correct them, even when their morals are totally wrong! I just let them form their own thoughts about it and discuss it with each other.

Picture Study or Handwriting or Art Lesson: We rotate through the following, usually doing a picture study on Monday/Wednesday and Handwriting Tuesday/Thursday (or so) and an art lesson on Friday.
Picture Study: We have one artist that we study for a while (a month, six weeks?) and on Picture Study days we generally just look at and discuss of piece of his/her art. Sometimes I also read aloud a book or story about the artist.
Handwriting: The kids have cursive workbooks which they love and they each do 2-3 pages, depending on how long it takes them to work. I read a book aloud while they do, either a fairy tale, a chapter from a read aloud, or a picture book from the library.  They write for as long as I read.
Art Lesson: We have a few art-lesson books, so generally I give a short instruction and then let them work until they're done.

On Friday's we have Sweetened Condensed Daily Devotional, which means that we generally do a Hymn, our current memory-poem and scripture and then art. Then the kids are free until our Nature Group meets in the afternoon. (So yes, we only "do school" 4 days a week.)

On Monday-Thursday the kids disperse again for about 15 minutes, and then we start school.
I try to have them write something every day, do math, and narration. Then, usually 1-2 other "subjects" and after lunch we try to do something fun.

Core Subjects:
Reading: We don't have any reading lessons or Language Arts, really. We do copywork, and discuss the grammar of the sentences they are copying, but we don't do spelling or anything. The kids read for pleasure all day and I read aloud to them constantly. So that's that. The best way to improve at reading when you're 8 is to enjoy it.

Writing: I mean physically writing, not creative writing. For this, I try to have them write 1-3 sentences a day. That's it! They usually do a science, history or scripture copywork. For example, on Monday they wrote "Clovis united all the barbarians into one tribe, the Franks." and today (Wednesday) they wrote, "He made a new set of laws, a new capital city, and made everyone be a Christian." And yesterday they wrote "Christ is like a mother hen that protects us underneath her wings." And they wrote Thank You cards for their birthday gifts.

Math: We are really liking Miquon Math. It's fairly easy, but building steadily in difficulty. I usually have the kids do 2-3 pages in their workbooks and we discuss it and check their work. It takes less than 15 minutes, but they do a little every day.

Narration: "Narration" is a funny subject and everyone I talk to does it differently. I'm realizing it may be one of the most important things we do! Eventually the kids will type their own, but for now they dictate. The way we do it is this: The big boys each have a Google Doc called "Micah's Narration" and "Grey's Narration."
Everyday they have to narrate two subjects to me. Their subjects are: personal scripture study, history, science, journal, and books. I just ask them to tell me what they want to remember about a given topic, and type down everything they say.
They usually narrate their scripture story from the day, and one other thing. I'll ask them to do history or science the day after we study it together, or I'll ask for a journal entry after something exciting happens (like their recent baptisms) or a book entry if I know they just finished a book they enjoyed.
They don't think of it as a test, but a record of the things they've learned. They love seeing how long their documents are getting. They're funny and insightful.
I can't type as fast as they speak, so they'll stop and re-read what I've written while I catch up and then they'll tell me things they forgot.
I ask them questions like, "What happened next?" "Do you remember what her name was?" or "Why do you think he did that?" which can help them think of what else to say, but I don't ask questions like "What were the four barbarian tribes called?"
I want it to be more of a big-juicy conversation and less like a quiz.

 Those are the subjects we study every day (that we have school)! These are the other things I put on our Weekly To-Do List (not all of these things go on the list every week. Just some combination of things.)

History Chapter- I read a chapter aloud from our history curriculum, Story of the World. The kids know they're expected to narrate it back to me, so they pay attention- but they're usually working on a craft while I read.
History Copywork- This is when they write 1-2 sentences and illustrate it, like I shared before.
History Craft- I am pretty picky about crafts. For example, they need to be very open-ended, and require very little from me. So we aren't making salt-dough maps or something I have to prepare or supervise.
But today the kids made gargoyles from air-dry clay (because we read about cathedrals). Other crafts we've done include making cardboard viking ships, bamboo Chinese scrolls, Japanese woodblocks (out of foam)
History Dinner- About once a month the kids and I will plan a meal around what we are studying. Sushi, or figs, or roasted pig. I try not to be TOO crazy about it.
History Library Books- Whatever our study unit is, I get about 30-50 books from the library on the topic. The kids read a lot of them on their own, but I also make an effort to read 1-2 aloud a week (like when they're doing handwriting)


We don't usually do science and history the same week. Or month. Or semester.
Usually we do History for 6 weeks, focusing on a period of time (obviously now we are learning about Medieval France) and then do science for 6 weeks, focusing on a subject like "Biomes" or "The Human Body."  So we do all the same things for science as for history.
Science Narrations, copywork, library books, crafts/ experiments and field trips.

In fairness, I think there is a lot of overlap in Science and history. While learning about the plague, we've been discussing germs and medicine. While learning about the solar system, we studied Galileo and Copernicus.

Creative Writing: Usually this is connected to what we are doing during the week, and I try to find opportunities to have the kids write stories or poems. Ballads when we read Beowulf, Haikus when we studied Japan, etc. (The purpose of Creative Writing IS NOT to teach grammar. It is to teach kids that what they think is valuable and worth sharing.)

Mapmaking: I really enjoyed Mapmaking with Children, which taught me that kids need to understand that maps represent places before they can actually understand world maps. So most of our mapmaking is actually just MAKING MAPS of our house (for treasure hunts), of the trip to Piano Lessons, or building things out of blocks and making a map of it to recreate.
Occasionally we find places on the globe that we've discussed for history.

Scriptures / Come, Follow Me: On Saturday or Sunday, Travis and the kids play videogames or watch a movie together and I plan out 4-6 CFM lessons. We usually have one together during Sunday Dinner, one for Family Night on Monday and then the rest are part of our school week. The kids usually do 1-2 copywork sentences about it. I'll ask them "What do you want to say for Scripture Journal?" and they'll say "Jesus had twelve apostles to help him teach and heal" for example. I write that on a white board and they copy it into their Copywork Journals.

Nature Study: I am terrible at this. Mostly it's just identifying birds and trees on our hikes, but occasionally we do a lesson from Exploring Nature With Children or we track the moon or weather for the week.

Poetry Teatime: Easily our favorite thing to do every week, and my kids don't believe it's school! I sometimes make a treat, but I also often just slice apples and put out bowls of peanut butter for dipping. Everyone takes turns reading poems aloud that they like. August and Louise pick out poems they want us to read for them.

Games: I actually write games on our to-do list for the week, or we run out of time for games- but games are a great way to learn. We often play games on Friday or in the afternoons after the kids are done with school, but their friends aren't home yet.

Every morning while the kids do their Morning Tasks, I write down what I want to accomplish on a white board.
Today, I wrote:

History Journal
Laundry/Bathroom (boys jobs)
Gargoyles / The Duke and the Peasant (the project we did, and the book I read aloud while they worked)
Evergreens (nature study)

We finished the first three tasks and Daily Devotional by noon. We had lunch and I read a chapter of our family Read-Aloud book (just started Half-Magic). Then when Louise took a nap the kids made Gargoyles and I read a library book.
Everyone was outside playing by 1pm.

They haven't finished their chores yet, but I think we'll do it tonight and we haven't studied Evergreens yet, but we are going to drive up into the Mountains for a half hour before dinner. (So right now, as soon as I finish this blogpost.)

School is ever-changing for us, and we've been really great about school for a few months. Our current routine is productive and yet really relaxed and provides  lots of time to play and create.

Monday, April 16, 2018

Hiking With Kids

Hey, remember me? I used to blog here every single day of the week.
Well, here I am for my twice-yearly post.
I shall post again in... November, if you're lucky.

About four years ago, another mom invited me to join her on a weekly "Mom and Kids Hike." They would meet at a trailhead and hike with their kids.
I literally had a panic attack at the thought. Hiking. WITH KIDS? With no husbands? In the mountains where there is no cellphone service?!
Was this woman actually insane?

But compare that to us last year! Last year we invited a few friends up to hike with us and one woman said, "I wish we hiked more, but it's just so much easier to go to the park instead."
And I straight-up scorned her.
Hiking in the mountains is NOT harder than going to the park. To go to the park you have to pack sunscreen, waterbottles, and snacks. Going to the mountains requires all the same things. It is the same as going to the park.
That's a big change of attitude in four years!

In fact, last summer the kids and I averaged about 3 hikes a week.
Thrice a week! Hiking in the mountains! With kids and no husband!
To be fair, I went from having 3 year old twins to having 6 year old twins, but I do have 2 more kids besides! Aaaand, to be double-fair, I use the phrase "hiking" broadly, as you might discover if you read on.

So if you find hiking with your kids is basically a nightmare or you're afraid to take kids hiking, here are some things that helped my kids fall in love with the mountains- and as we all know, if your kids love something, they're much more willing to do it without whining.

1. Buy them good gear.
This seems silly, I know. Your kids should be able to love the outdoors without hi-tech gizmos and gadgets. But they deserve the basics. Good shoes, a backpack, a water bottle.
On many, many occasions friends have asked us, "Will you take us hiking with you?" They saw our pictures (which are phenomenally beautiful, if I do say so myself) and they thought, "I want to go there and I want my kids to experience that!"
And they show up at the trailhead in flipflops!
10 minutes into the hike, all the children are crying. Your kids are going to want to climb rocks, ford rivers, and sometimes even walk downhill on sandy ground! Gasp! They will slip, slide, get hurt, sore, and be angry if they don't have good shoes on.
This is in no way an advertisement or even an affiliate link. Buy your kids Keens. They're sturdy, close-toed sandals that have grippy bottoms, can get wet, and will last through every single one of your children. And having gear (like a hiking backpack or a special waterbottle) is more fun for kids. They like having hiking gear. "Get your backpacks, we're going hiking!" and they know which bag is theirs, what fun things are inside (field guides, pocket knives, etc), and they like it.

2. Make them carry everything. 
Hiking sucks for Moms because you're carrying all your whiny kids' crap. Stop doing that. Every single child should have a backpack on, and that backpack should have a waterbottle and 1 billion snacks (more about that in a minute).
Yes. Your two year old should have a backpack.
Maybe your two-year old's backpack is empty, but he is getting used to carrying it.

3. It's not about the destination.
It's not. It's not. You will not make it to your destination so stop even thinking about it.
If you go on a grueling hike as an adult and you make it to the apex of the mountain, you feel a sense of accomplishment. Your child feels a sense of betrayal.
You forced them to be miserable and all they got was an amazing view? For most children- that's not worth it.
The hike itself needs to be fun. The hike needs to be fun, or you'll never make any destination. You will give up because everything is terrible. (Esp. your child.)
On more than one occasion, we've gotten 3/4 of the way through a hike and my kids have announced that they were ready to turn around.
Now that we have taught them to keep pushing forward, I sometimes say "No, let's power through, we are almost there!"
But most of the time, I say "Okay! Let's turn around!" It drives my husband crazy. He wants that destination.
But I don't want the kids to think of hiking as a chore. It's a treat! If you forced your child to eat an extra ice cream even though they didn't want it- it would fast become torture.
Hiking is like ice cream. Leave them wanting more!

4. Let your child choose their own adventure.
Along the same note as above: The purpose of hiking with kids is not to get to the destination. It's not even to hike, really! It's to help your child fall in love with the outdoors.
Hiking is a great opportunity to get outside, get moving, and go somewhere new. But when we "hike," we probably spend 1/2 -2/3 of the time- not hiking. Instead, the kids are exploring a pool in the river, climbing a big rock or tree by the side of the trail, or picking dandelions and blowing their seeds around.
 Sometimes we go "on a hike" and make it a quarter mile from the trailhead. Then the kids want to stop and build a fort.
Let them do that. That's why you stuck a book in your backpack. (Bonus Tip: Stick a book in your backpack.) If you spend 3 hours in the mountains and you never made it past that first quarter mile, who cares? When your kids discover that they love to be outside and explore nature, it's a lot easier to say "Let's hike a little farther- I think there's a cool waterfall ahead!"
When they love exploring nature, they'll want to see that waterfall- even if the climb is harder than a stroll around the block.

5. Bring 1 Billion Snacks.
This might be common sense to everyone but me- but when we first started hiking, I didn't bring anything but a spare diaper. I would think, "We are only going to be out for an hour. They wouldn't have a snack if we were at home."
No. Bring snacks.
First, it's a lot more tiring hiking than being at home. They will be hungry. Hungry kids are terrible kids.
Second, snacks are amazing bribery. Every time my kids want to stop for a break, I say "Run ahead and find the perfect spot for us to stop for a snack." They usually go another  eighth to quarter mile looking for just the right fallen log. Then everyone sits and has a 5 minute break, eats a snack, and is ready to go again.
Third, hiking snacks are special. I don't generally let the kids eat fruit leathers, granola bars, applesauce pouches, or mini bags of chips at home. Those are hiking-only snacks. My kids are willing to put up with a lot in order to get those snacks.
And saying "There's a chocolate chip cookie waiting in the car for every boy that gets to the top without whining!" is always helpful, too.

6. Hike New Places. Hike Old Places.
I think every other hike we go on is a new hike. We are blessed to live in an amazing place with lots of recreation areas around us. If you aren't in such a place- you just do what you have to do. But hiking familiar hikes has a lot of benefits and so does hiking a new trail.
Hiking somewhere familiar helps your child form a bond and a friendship with a place. On certain beloved hikes, my kids spend the whole time yelling things like "Hurry, the magical trees that take you back in time are just ahead!" or "We've almost made it to Friendship Spring!" or "Let's run ahead and wait for Mom in the Secret Ninja Campout!"
(Those are all actual places that they "discovered" and named.) It is fun to visit in different seasons and see familiar nature change. It is fun to bring friends and introduce them to the places we love.
But new hikes and locations are an adventure! And they give us the chance to discover a new favorite Secret Copse of Trees.

7. Get off the Sidewalk and Away From People. 
Sidewalks are boring.
When you search on the internet for "Kid Friendly Hikes" everything that comes up is paved.
I know why people think that's kid-friendly. It's so you can push strollers.
That's boring for your kid and it sucks for you. If you can, leave your stroller at home and go somewhere terrible instead. Yes, that's right.
Everything that you think is terrible about hiking is extremely fun for children. Climbing rocks? Wading through mud? Battling your way through vines?
Sounds like a super fun adventure to a knight! Flat, gravel trails that attract trail-running and people with dogs are boring and crowded. Don't hike them. Hike somewhere where you're all alone and you're having an adventure.
P.S. Another beautiful thing about being alone and in wilderness is that you never have to say things to your kid like, "Don't wave that stick around, you'll hit someone!" or "Please don't scream like a terrifying monster, you're making that small child cry." or "Stop throwing sand, that other mom is giving me the evil eye!"
You can just say, "Go a little farther away from me before you start peeing on everything in sight."
(I assume these are the sort of things that all mothers say all the time.)

8. Stop Telling Them to Be Careful
Sometimes when we hike with grandmothers or friends without kids, those adults spend a lot of their time shouting "BE CAREFUL! Get away from that ledge! Don't go near the water! That branch doesn't look strong enough! Don't eat that weird bug!"
Yeah. Kids are stupid. They do dangerous things. And every mother has her own limits, but a good limit is this: Is my child going to die if he climbs that rock?
Mostly likely, the worst that will happen is he'll get a concussion. The best that will happen is he will gain independence, improve his balance and problem solving skills, and experience immediate consequences for foolish actions. If you really can't stop yourself from warning your child, say things like "If you fall in the river, you'll have cold feet for the rest of the hike" or maybe even, "That rock looks a little slippery, what can you hold on to while you climb?"
Then your kid will use his brain a little, but also he will keep adventuring.

9. Learn about Where You Are (But Don't Overdo It)
Get a couple of field guides about where you live, and stick one in everyone's backpack. It's fun to point out things, "This is a maple tree. Look at the way its leaf is shaped, can you find any more Maple Trees?" or maybe "Look at that cute little woodpecker, let's see if we can identify it!"
Knowing the names of trees, flowers, birds, and rocks is fun. Seeing a bird in nature that you studied at home is like seeing an old friend unexpectedly.
BUT, don't turn hiking into studying. We used to bring nature journals, and I would try to sit my kids down and make them write about things they identified.
Guess what. They hated it. It was torture.
They didn't have time to sit and draw when they could be catching lizards!
Maybe your child loves to journal in nature. But if they don't? Who cares!

10. Make Hiking a Given, not a Surprise
We hike every single Tuesday and Thursday in the summertime. When they get up, they expect it. They're not surprised and horrified, "But today I wanted to jump on the tramp with Aurora!" They know it's coming so there is no fight.
We also usually do a spontaneous hike or two each week, when I wake up and think "Get me to the mountains before I accidentally kill everyone!" and those are the hikes my kids sometimes fight. And those are the fights they sometimes win.
Set an expectation, and then stick to it. 

11. Hike With Friends
My last tip for you is easy: Take your bestie.
Hiking with many children is really hard. Everyone moves at a different pace, everyone has a different idea of where to stop, when to turn around, and whether or not it's fun pee on things outside.
But hiking with a few friends is a must. Mom has someone to talk to, and keep her company. Someone to buckle the baby-carrier for her. Someone to go for help if you're bitten by a rattlesnake, etc.
And kids have someone to show off for.
Kids are much, much less whiny if there's someone else there with them. Especially if the other child is saying things like, "I heard a chickadee call!" or "Let's pretend we are Moccasins and hide and spy on our moms while they hike!"
So find a child like that (may I recommend a homeschooled weirdo?).
Then if you have a child that moves quickly and a child that wanders slowly behind you- they're easier to split up. Big kids can run ahead, little kids can dawdle. Moms can walk in the middle and say things like, "Does that sound like fun-screaming or hurt-screaming?"And they can just keep talking and wondering without going to rescue anyone, because one of the best parts of hiking with kids is just totally ignoring your kids for long periods of time.

Sigh. Hurry up and get here, Spring! I'm ready to get outside again!
(Was this post an excuse to post a bunch of pictures of us hiking? Yes.)


Thursday, June 22, 2017

A Study in Eyes

Louise's eyes are definitely blue- and yet, they are distinctly different than the blue eyes of Grey and Micah. So I started trying to find pictures of all my kids eyes to compare... and of course I got carried away. So here you go.





Then I made this little collage, like a crazy person with lots of free time. (I don't have lots of free time and am also hopefully not crazy.)
What do you think? I think Lu's eyes are shaped the most like Grey's eyes. August and Micah's eyes have a sorta downward slant on the outside, but are SUCH different colors, and Micah's eyes are so heavily lidded.
This is apparently how I exert my mental energies, comparing my children's eyeballs.


Thursday, May 25, 2017

Grey and Louise, a Love Story

Grey and Louise love each other. They love each other more than any of my other children love each other. I suspect they love each other more than either of them love their parents.
I find, my feelings aren't hurt.

Grey was reading out loud to Louise, and I pulled out my camera. I love the natural evolution of pictures here.

As Grey read, he became distracted by Louise and started talking sweet to her and trying to make her smile.

He (obviously) was forced to abandon his book, and pay more attention to her. And give her kisses.

Also, as a bonus: I try to take pictures of my children and they try to be as annoyed by it as possible.
Little do they know, I even love their annoyed faces.

How I love this young man boy!

Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Dandelion Wishes


"What do you mean?"


They're really good human beings.

Monday, May 22, 2017

Five Months Old + A Baby Blessing







Louise with her Dad and both Grandpas on her blessing day.